


It's Okay

by terminallyChaotic



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: (eventually) - Freeform, (for now) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Epithets, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Big Brother Giovanni Potage, Friendship, Ghosts, Giovanni Is A Ghost, Molly and Giovanni Are The Only Relevant Characters, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25223638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terminallyChaotic/pseuds/terminallyChaotic
Summary: Excuse me, hello, Ghost Busters? Yeah, there's a ghost in my house, his name is Giovanni Potage and he's a criminal, could you please come arrest him?-In which Giovanni, the ghost who haunts the house he died in out of nothing but pettiness and unfinished earthly business, is finally seen by somebody. And maybe, just maybe, the two of them can help each other out.--title subject to change, so dont get attached
Relationships: Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage
Comments: 13
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the pre-plotting to this is absolutely 0. It's full improv and I'm making everything up on the spot. It's more like the story is writing me.
> 
> For reference, while Giovanni is technically 24 (stuck as a 19-year-old ghost), Molly is still only 12. She's baby.
> 
> Giovanni can only really manifest himself as a physical force, he's unable to make himself seen, and very rarely can he be heard. His ghosty powers tend to be influenced in strength by emotion.
> 
> Banzai Blasters are kind of just like an attempt at a mafia or a gang, as made by Giovanni. No Epithets, no museum arc, just some boys trying to do petty crimes a few years ago, and now a kid and a ghost trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
> 
> No romance planned (yet) but if there is it's definitely not going to be gio///molly, ya nasties.
> 
> 100% Open to plot suggestions or anything of the like

The upside to being a ghost who previously lead a life of bad-guy-stuff, is that it's a whole lot easier to participate in things that only true bad guys do- like scaring people and breaking some plates now and then. (Never the ones that seem special, just the basic ones that you can replace with a trip to Walmart. He may be _bad_ but he's not **_evil_**.)

Spooking people so bad that they move out (or even that one divorce, but truthfully that couple had been walking on eggshells from the moment they'd moved in anyways,) was truly a bad guy move, and Giovanni Potage felt pride every time he managed to scare a family out. This was originally the lair for the Banzai Blasters, after all! Just because he'd gone and crossed over to the other side didn't mean they could just take over and ignore it's history. Just look at the basement! Or the attic! Or his old bedroom-- well, no, that one had been painted over a few different times. But beneath those layers of paint that he'd try to scratch away at night (two for one special of scaring people and getting his history back) lays the evidence of what this place once was, and should one day be again!

The downside to being a ghost, however, is the fact that it is _very hard_ to get in contact with your old friends. Back after he'd first died and hadn't had a grasp on his ghosty-ghoulish abilities, they'd come by a few times. He'd had to watch as they'd taken things out of the house and moved them to who-knows-where. (Crusher never did show up in that time span, and Giovanni knew then that ghosts could definitely still feel emotions, because it _hurt_ to think about where he may have been.) Upwards of five years later, Giovanni wasn't even sure if he could get more than a whisper across to the living without experiencing intense emotion (which became harder as years went by,) and he hadn't seen one of his minions come by in far too long. 

He'd try to leave the house, now and again. Managing to open the door and stare out into the world he'd left behind with such an intense yearning, he wouldn't be surprised if somebody from the street could actually _see_ him. But the moment he tries to step past that doorframe, out of his eternal confinements, he'd be stepping right back into the basement, instead. Standing just in front of the stairs that would haunt him probably to a worse degree than he'd haunted any of the previous tenants. (What a stupid way to die- falling down the stairs. He should've gone out in some totally cool and awesome way, like protecting his boys. He could only hope they told super-awesome stories about him out there, instead of the truth.)

\--

During the open houses- when they decorate the house with pretty furniture to try and pawn it off to whatever suckers are looking to move- Giovanni likes to spend his time chilling in his old bedroom. They have it decked out in some ugly minimalist modernized schtick that he kinda hates, but it's nice to get to pseudo-lay on a bed again. He _would_ follow whoever was seeing the house around, but after you hear the same type of conversations time and time again, it gets so boring that you'd rather do absolutely nothing. Besides, he tends to get a good look at everybody once they come up to check the bedrooms out. 

He's playing out a fierce battle with nothing but his hands and imagination, as if he isn't a 19-year-old ghost (or, 24, but do ghosts really age? he's only 5 in ghost years, too,) when he hears the stairs creaking. Voices carrying upstairs and Giovanni perks up, moving into a sitting position as he hears the overly peppy speech the real estate agent gives every time. 

He wonders if she still has to legally disclose that he died here.

When she enters his room- or 'the master suite' as she calls it, pointing out the 'en suite half bath' and 'sizeable closet' (you can afford a decent house when your whole team pitches in for a 'base' that you just.. also live in,)- she's followed by a family of three. Giovanni's eyes trail from the presumed father- he has bad vibes, and Giovanni's become very good at picking up bad vibes since obtaining ghosthood,- down to the taller child, and then the smallest one. The smallest one, who is making direct eye contact with him.

He's pretty sure he shouldn't be visible to them- and it's confirmed when he glances at the other three in the room, who act like he's not even there. But the little ones big green eyes are piercing into him, only glancing away as if also confirming nobody else could see this shit. 

There's nothing of interest behind him, either. Not with this minimalist, modernized guck. 

Her eyes only widen further when her probably-dad situates himself on the bed for a quick test run, laying back and passing right through Giovanni (it grosses him out when that happens, and he's quick to move off the bed and away from the intrusive sorta-tingly feelings that come with phasing like that (have you ever felt somebody's heartbeat from inside your stomach? It's weird.)) 

He wrinkles his nose as he looks back at the blond man, who seems pretty content with everything so far. And then he remembers the little one, and he looks back over, and she's still staring _directly at him_.

Neither of them pays much attention when the rest of the party starts to leave, leaving just the two of them stuck in a stare off full of disbelief and mutual confusion. (Maybe a little pre-emptive fear, on her part.) 

He has no clue how long they stared at each other until somebody calls for her, jolting her out of her surprised state and causing her to turn her head into the hallway to yell that she was on her way.

Giovanni abuses his ghostly powers of silence to hide under the bed the moment she turns away, watching her little feet shift in place- assumedly looking for him again- before slowly turning and moving out of the room.

This, Giovanni thinks, is a _new_ and _**dangerous**_ game.

\--

It's barely a week later when that same little trio are the ones moving in. Giovanni watches from upstairs as their moving truck pulls up and they start to bring things in. The bangs and loud voices downstairs indicate that it's not a very smooth move, at all.

The eldest of the three seem to be bringing in all the big items, pausing at some point to sit on a couch they'd left in the yard for the time being, while the little one- Molly- brought in boxes, baskets, bags, and all the other clutter you could defer to one person. 

It seemed a little unfair, in Giovanni's eyes. For the littlest one to bring in so many things, do so many trips. And she didn't stop once to take a break. Nor did she seem to complain, but still. 

He doesn't hear any of them come up the stairs until they appear to have everything out of the truck and inside the house, ready to be organized and moved to where it all should be. The father hops back in the truck in order to return it, most likely, and when Giovanni dares to peer over the banisters and down into the living room, he can see the elder of the two left setting up their TV (which is absolutely massive, how do you afford a TV that massive?)

When he spies Molly headed towards the stairs, a box of bedroom artifacts in her arms, he's quick to dart into one of the rooms, place himself behind the door like a kid trying to hide in a game.

It's unfortunate luck that she enters the exact room he's chosen, placing the box against the opposing wall before letting out a tired sigh.

Giovanni can't help the pang of sympathy that hits him in the chest. She'd been working hard, and she deserved to stop and take a break. Giovanni could still remember when he'd first moved into this house- he hadn't even come with much, things had mostly been collected by his minions bringing things in at random through his year and a half stay (how pathetically short. This place never got the full Banzai Treatment.)- but moving what he had in had been a pain, even with the active help of his minions.

He's still reminiscing when she turns around, jolting in surprise as she spots him, before pointing and stuttering out a surprised, "Y-you!"

He snaps to attention, opening his mouth a few times over before settling on, "How can you _see me?_ "

"Why can't anybody **else** see you! And why are you here? How did you get here? Are you real? Who _**are**_ you?? Oh, maybe I'm finally losing it..."

"Okay, Woah, slow down." He drags out the last two words in order to make his point.

"I think our first order of business should be figuring out _why_ you can see me, because that should not be happening! It doesn't even happen when I _try_ to be seen!"

A moment of hesitance.

"..Are you a ghost, or a hallucination, because I really can't tell right now and it's freaking me out."

Giovanni sighs, reaches out to shut the door with a little push of his ghosty-ghoulie powers to prove he couldn't be a hallucination, and then offers her a smile.

"I'm Giovanni Potage, would-have-been greatest supervillain in all the lands." His grin widens, hands placing themselves on his hips as he stands up a little straighter. "Best haunter in all of Sweet Jazz City, for sure. I've scared the past twenty-three families out of this place!" An exaggeration for sure, but she didn't need to know that. "This place used to be the base for me and my minions, until _The Man_ broke in and took care of us. My boys got out safe only with my noble sacrifice." A hand clenched close to his chest, inhaling as though it were hard to speak of. "Now I roam these halls waiting to finish my business on the mortal plane, haunting the sweet bejeezus out of this place until that can be done." He nods somberly, before pointing abruptly at Molly.

"And you, are Molly! Molly, who can see me, when nooobody else has been able to do that in.. ever! So what's up with that, little girl? You a medium? Got special powers? ...Are you a space alien?" He motions towards her hair, pointing out the numerous stars that sit within it. He'd assume they were hair clips, but anything could be possible!

"No!" She shakes her head, raising her hands as though it would further prove her innocence. "I'm not a medium, or an alien! I'm just... Molly."

Giovanni squints, slowly approaching her as though that would provide some kind of extra information. He circles once, twice, and Molly stays tense the entire time. Until he shrugs, stepping back in order to give her space (not that you can really intrude on somebody's physical space when they could just walk right through you.)

"Alright, fine, Just Molly. But the question still remains! How can _you_ see me? Even my boys couldn't see me."

"I don't know..." A pause, Molly putting her finger to her chin in thought, before she gasps. "Oh no."

"Oh no?"

"What if _I'm Dying._ "

And again, silence reigns supreme in their isolated little room. Faintly, Giovanni thinks he can hear something playing on the tv downstairs, but past that, it's just the two of them and the idea that.. makes a concerning amount of sense.

His boys hadn't been dying. (At least, he hoped not.) None of the previous tenants had been dying (unless a dying marriage counts.) Nobody who'd been marching towards deaths doorstep had been in this house since Giovanni himself had, quite literally, marched himself up to the steps that lead to his death. 

Molly's breath begins to pick up at the silence, tears starting to form.

"I- I haven't been to a check-up in years! What if- what if something's wrong with me and- and I don't even know?" The tears begin to stream down her face, hitching her breath and causing her words to stutter.

"What i-if I hav-ve cancer, o-or-" Her eyes widen as an idea strikes her, and she clutches at her sweater in what could only be described as terror. "Wha-at if-if, I-I'm just gon-na die he-ere? N-not- not 'cause I'm-m sick, jus'- wha'tif it's f-fi-ire?" She's gasping for breaths between syllables at this point, and Giovanni is beyond concerned at this point.

"Woah, hey, deep breaths kid." He moves until he can reach out, manifesting himself the only way he knows he can, just enough to put gentle pressure on Molly's shoulder in an attempt to offer reassurance. "You're okay. You're good. Breath with me for a second here, okay? In . . . out, good. Keep that up. It's okay- come here," He focuses, and while he knows it's not the best, he still wraps his arms around her, rubbing her back to comfort her. He can only give so much pressure, but it's better than nothing. And judging by the way she clings back, she needs it.

He guides her through the methods he'd learned forever ago, to help calm down his Blasters. It was his job as leader, after all, to help them when they needed it. And on more than one occasion, that had required calming them down from a panic attack or all-out breakdown. 

It takes over half an hour, but calming down from these things was hard. And it wasn't as though Giovanni had anything to do. Normally he wouldn't even start truly haunting the place for another day or two- do it while things were still being unpacked and moved just made people dismiss it, and that was disrespectful to him personally.

When Molly is down to just a few hitched breaths and sniffles, Giovanni pulls back just enough to offer her a concerned smile.

"Is this your room?" It's the smallest of the three, so it's only a natural assumption that the smallest of the family would be staying in it. Not that Giovanni would know, being an only child, but being the youngest sure did seem to have its disadvantages from the family's he'd seen pass through.

She wipes at her tear-stained face, wincing at the pressure against her puffy eyes, but nods. Managing a soft little 'yeah' in response.

"Okay," It was a good thing for once that the family had paid to keep the minimalist display furniture.

Carefully, he directs her towards the bed, waiting for her to climb under the covers. He doesn't let her protest, despite her attempts.

"Get some rest. You've been working hard all day, kid. We'll figure this out later. Okay?"

He doesn't even get a response, Molly already passed out into a hopefully peaceful bout of sleep.

As Giovanni stares down at her, openly letting concern settle on his face, he can't help but focus on how tiny she is. How frail she looks. How young she must be. There are bags under her eyes the likes of which a child so small should never have, and on top of it all, she'd spent the majority of the day moving things from old house to new. It would make him nauseous, if that was one of the things he was still capable of feeling.

There's the sound of a car pulling up outside, and Giovanni hovers a hand over Molly, not wanting to risk waking her up.

"You're gonna be okay."

He'd make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i still have 0 clue what im doing, but ive managed to bullshit another chapter, incredibly. and this one holds a plot point i hope to use to make you sad, if i ever finish this ;p

When Molly wakes up, it comes with a bout of confusion for a few different reasons.

One; it's dark outside. Not pitch-black middle of the night dark, although that's something she's used to seeing, but the sun is setting and in the movies this would be around when you either get called inside for dinner or go on a romantic walk on the beach. 

Two; She can't really remember even getting into bed in the first place. She'd been moving things, and then it was kind of just a blur. The kind of blur that comes with her bouts of exhaustion when she falls asleep on the floor, not in her bed. (Tucked in? Most of the time she just fell asleep on top of her covers, too exhausted to bother getting underneath.)

And Three; All of her things are in her room. They aren't put away, but she's fairly certain that every box and bag she'd packed up was moved upstairs and into her room. Placed a little haphazardly maybe, which is what makes her really try to think on if she'd been the one to do that or not, but they're up there. 

When she slips out of her bed, she's surprised to find her shoes still stuck to her feet, probably having dirtied up the brand new covers- what a way to break them in. 

She stares down at her feet, tapping her shoes against the hardwood a few times as though testing if the shoes were _real_ and not somehow a new kind of exhaustion-based hallucination. The little thuds and taps, the feeling of the shoes forming to her foot as she briefly lifts to her tiptoes, confirm that this is in fact probably real life and not a hallucination or very vivid dream. It does absolutely nothing to ease her confusion.

"You know, you have a _lot_ of bear-themed things, kid." 

Molly jolts, turning around and spotting the ghost- er, is it rude to call him that?- standing against her wall like he's just a regular person, leaning back with one foot lifted up and his hands shoved in his pockets like either a cool kid or bully character. She finds herself at a loss for words, searching until the only things that she can connect into a sentence spill past her lips.

"Your pockets work?"

"Wha-" Giovanni, as she just remembers, looks confused, borderline offended, until he looks down at where his hands rest inside his ghost-clothes.

"...Yeah. I never thought about that. You never really think about the physics of ghost clothes, huh? I wonder if I could keep things in here..." He trails off, clearly contemplating, and Molly finds herself curious as well, now that the subject has been brought up. 

She glances around her room, bare but for the closed boxes, bags, and generic furniture, before an idea strikes her. She reaches her hands up into her hair, feels around, and fiddles until she can free one of her many star clips from her curls. She offers it to Giovanni with a smile.

"Here! Try putting this in your pocket. We can see how long it stays, if it does!"

He hesitates, glancing between the clip Molly holds out in an offering and the myriad of others sitting in her dark hair, a galaxy of rainbow stars.

"..Alright, but if it goes missing, that's not my fault!"

He snatches up the little red star, leaving Molly's hand tingling and cold as though just waking up from sleep. It feels weird, but she makes no move to show that, just watches as Giovanni lifts the hair clip- not even visible through his hand unlike the semi-transparence of the rest of his body, she realizes,- and brings it over to his pocket, shoving his hand in before pulling it out, offering it palm up to reveal emptiness.

They both stare at his hand for a few moments, before their gaze travels to his pocket. It's still kind of see-through, Molly able to spot the corner of her dresser through that portion of his body, but she can't see the star.

"Is it gone?" She questions, lifting her eyes as though Giovanni would have all the answers, despite the fact this was very clearly his first time trying anything like this out, and they were on this very specific ghost learning curve together.

"I don't know." He pauses, before opening his pocket as though it were a bag, trying to peer inside. "I don't see it."

"Feel for it, dummy."

"Rude!" But he listens, shoving his hand into his pocket and feeling around, before pulling his hand out, once again empty.

"I think it's gone."

"You ate my hair clip."

"You gave it to me!"

"Like a vacuum cleaner."

"I am a human being-"

"Well,"

"It counts!"

"Okay!"

They end up staring down at his hand again, empty of the sacrificial little red hairclip. Molly ponders over if Giovanni's pocket can reach into some sort of ghost void, and if not, where it may have gone. She'd never be able to tell if it popped up back among the rest of them- she had a whole bunch of extra's tucked away in her things, somewhere. One random star showing up somewhere wouldn't really mean much to her, especially if it was in her room.

Speaking of, "How did you get all my things up here?"

"Huh?"

"My stuff! I didn't bring it all up, and I know Lorelai and Dad wouldn't bring my stuff up, so the only person left is you. How did you do it?"

Giovanni shakes his head, crossing his arms. "I can't even hold a hamster for longer than a few minutes at best, and that exhausts me for pretty much the rest of the day. It was totally your dad. Guess he didn't like tripping over boxes that kept tripping him on his way to the stairs."

"Oh." Molly starts to worry that she accidentally left everything a mess downstairs, and slips past her Ghaquantince (Ghost Aquantince) to leave her room, peering over the banister to look down into the- surprisingly decently organized living room. 'Organized' being a generous term, but boxes and bags aren't strewn about haphazardly. They're stacked up against a wall, to be dealt with at a later date. Lorelai sits on the couch with her leg stretched across most of it, tapping away at her phone despite the fact the TV is playing some kind of movie. 

She jolts when the air turns cold and part of her body tingles, head snapping to face Giovanni as he places himself against the bannister, looking down at the living room with her.

"Looks like they took care of things. Told ya it'd be fine."

"I-"

She's interrupted by the door opening, the smell of fast food hitting her almost immediately as her father enters with McDonalds in hand- three bags. Three drinks. He glances upwards as he shuts the door, and grins at Molly.

"Hey! Get your butt down here, kid. Lore hooked up the wifi and found a good movie. Gotta break in the new house!" He laughs, moving to place the food down in the kitchen and assumedly sort it all out.

"Oh man, I miss McDonalds." Giovanni peers after her dad with a mixture of longing and sadness, before seeming to realize Molly's looking at him, now.

"What are you waiting for? Go! Eat! You gotta enjoy extra for me, I feel like that's only fair what with you living in my house and all." 

His hand phases through her in an attempt to push her along, but the uncomfortable tingle that resonates down to her bones is enough to make her jump back and start towards the stairs, letting out a noise of discomfort.

By the time she gets her chicken nuggets and is making her way to take a seat on the floor- preferred for dipping sauce reasons- Giovanni has left their previous location near the top of the stairs, and is nowhere to be found.

Molly frowns, but makes sure to savour the sweet-'n'-sour flavour that coats her processed chicken for him, regardless.

Even if she doubts he would be able to tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Giovanni Potage Holds Many Secrets
> 
> maybe he holds the secret to me being able to care enough to beta read. im so sorry LMAOOO
> 
> but thank u for the enthusiasm last chapter!! yall sweet <3

**Author's Note:**

> You're a God Tier person for reading this. You know that, right?
> 
> Thank you! Every hit means something to me <3


End file.
